1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camcorder for taking a moving image, having a display unit such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor or an organic EL.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although as a prevailing type of digital camcorder, migration from a magnetic tape type to an HDD recording type is ongoing, a type of digital camcorder using a DVD, which is an optical disk, as a recording medium is emerging in recent years. Such a DVD type digital camcorder is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-111877.
In the conventional digital camcorder as described above, a currently taken image is displayed on a liquid crystal monitor in a record mode. When a taken image is checked, the image recorded is displayed on the LCD monitor by interrupting image taking by operating a button and switching from a record mode to the playback mode.
In the digital camcorder described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-111877, when a taken image is checked, the mode is switched to the playback mode, and a thumbnail of an image recorded on a DVD is developed in a memory to display the thumbnail on the liquid crystal monitor.
However, depending on an object's situation, the timing for starting image taking may occur suddenly. In such a case, a user may press the recording button in a hurry and continue image taking while in doubt as to whether an image at the beginning of the image taking has been recorded or not. Then, for example, when the user checks the recorded image after a 30-minute image taking operation, the user may finally know that the beginning of the image taking has failed and feel disappointed.
In another case, an obstacle may come subtly in front or back of an object or within an image taking frame at the start of image taking. Also in this case, the user may not determine whether or not an image should be taken again from the first, and may feel disappointed after the image taking.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-39850 describes a stationary type recording and reproducing apparatus which employs one of a hard disk and an optical disk as an information recording medium. In the apparatus, image data and audio data of a digital camcorder, a video tape recorder or the like are input therein, and may be recorded, reproduced and edited. While the apparatus records information on an information recording medium, the apparatus can reproduce information already recorded on the information recording medium from any point of the already recorded information.
As described above, the recording and reproducing apparatus has a function of reproducing information already recorded on an information recording medium from any point of the already recorded information while recording moving image information on the information recording medium. However, since the recording and reproducing apparatus is a stationary type system having a personal computer and an external apparatus, and its function is not implemented in a portable digital camcorder itself, the convenience of using a digital camcorder during image taking still cannot be solved by this apparatus.